Thank you, Deputy President. In today’s society, working environment has become even more complicated and volatile due to economic globalization and rapid technological development, and therefore employees are facing heavier pressure. The mental health of employees can seriously affect their work efficiency, which will in turn affect company productivity. Therefore, employers have the responsibility to protect the mental health of employees and create a healthy working environment. I thank Mr Stanley NG for proposing this motion, enabling us to discuss and put forward proposals for effectively protecting the mental health of employees.
The “2024 questionnaire survey on Hong Kong employees’ work happiness index” released by an organization pointed out that the average work happiness index of Hong Kong wage earners is only 5.3 (out of a full score of 10), the reasons of which included respondents expressing worry about excessively low salary and insufficient income to meet daily expenses, and more. In fact, employees’ pressure is attributed to multiple sources and the common reasons include excessive workload, work-life imbalance, strained interpersonal relationship in the workplace, uncertainties in career development prospect, and so on. Anyone who is persistently under heavy pressure and cannot get away from it will very likely develop mental health problems.
A research publication of the Legislative Council has shown that with a workforce of 3.7 million, Hong Kong was the second most overworked city in the world after Dubai and the median working hours were 44.3 hours. In 2023, 36% of full-time employees worked 47 hours per week, of which 8.1% worked 60 hours or more, far exceeding the 48-hour work week set by the International Labour Organization. In other words, employees have spent more time at work and less time with their families. If employees are unhappy at work, it will definitely affect their emotion.
I suggest that the Government should make reference to the National Health Service in the United Kingdom and introduce “talking therapies” for employees with mild to moderate mental health problems and provide them with mental health treatment and counselling services. At the same time, the authorities should draw reference from the mandatory requirements adopted by Spain and Australia whereby employers are required to arrange regular health checks and stress tests for employees. The authorities can also consider offering free mental health counselling services at various District Health Centres for early identification and resolution of mental health issues encountered by employees. Although these services are helpful to employees to a certain extent, we should resolve the problems at root and the fundamental cause is that employees have a hard time at work and feel distressed. Only by rationalizing the work-related problems can we thoroughly resolve the issue at stake. This is a very simple point, but in reality, few people take serious steps to resolve the problem.
First of all, department heads need to understand the needs of staff members on a regular basis. They can arrange face-to-face meetings every three to six months so that they can directly get to know the needs of staff members or the difficulties they encounter. The most common issue is unfair workload distribution. Due to a variety of reasons, there are often cases where some people are overwhelmed with heavy workload while some others have little work to do. Conflicts and contradictions arising from office politics are very common and supervisor should have the will and ability to handle them. Supervisors should make timely adjustment, re-examine the workload of each employee and work together to resolve the problem.
Employers should cultivate a favourable office culture and provide mutual support to prevent the situation of shirking responsibilities. The role of employers is very important and they should promote a fair and mutually supportive culture, encourage employees to express their feelings, proactively listen to the needs of employees and strengthen their confidence and sense of belonging. Employers can also take a cue from the practice of large organizations in the community by offering free psychological counselling services to employees and setting up professional teams to provide counselling services to needy employees. If employees realize that their views have been taken seriously, they will face less pressure and it will definitely increase their work efficiency.
Protecting the mental health of employees is the joint responsibility of companies and the Government and the issue should not be taken lightly. Employers, supervisors or employees at all levels should shoulder corresponding responsibilities. A healthy and harmonious working environment can only be cultivated under the concerted efforts of all parties concerned. This will definitely enhance company productivity, while at the same time fostering social progress.
I so submit.